TRENTON — Mayor Tony Mack again professed his innocence this morning during a streets groundbreaking event that turned into a pointed question-and-answer session on the federal bribery charge he faces.

Mack made a rare public appearance this morning to herald a $425,000 street reconstruction project on North Warren Street, but soon found himself facing a barrage of questions on his Sept. 10 arrest.

Asked the status of his federal corruption case and whether he was considering a plea deal, Mack said he is innocent. He has been charged with conspiring to extort more than $100,000 in bribes from FBI informants posing as developers of a proposed downtown parking garage.

"You know, those are legal situations we're not allowed to discuss, but I will say this, and I've said it before: In America you're innocent until proven guilty and I am innocent," he said.

"This project is about the groundbreaking of Warren Street and I made my official statement on those other issues at hand," he said.

Mack tried several times unsuccessfully to steer the conversation back to the Warren Street project, which will repave and reconstruct the curbs and sidewalks of a 1,000-foot stretch of street from the Battle Monument to Bank Street.

He said that, despite his arrest, he is still in charge of the capital city.

"Ain't no question about it," he said. "Unequivocally. Ask any department director who runs the city."

He also said the city has deployed parts of its 10-point plan to combat crime, in the wake of a crime wave of several shootings and homicides in the last two weeks. And he confirmed he will appear before City Council tomorrow night to introduce a temporary budget and answer questions from council.